A perfect day’s paddling to start the Christmas Season!

Nottingham Trent Loop paddle on Sunday 6th. November.

This was our 3rd leg of the Leicestershire paddle from the Northampton border travelling along the canals and rivers through Leicestershire to the Nottinghamshire border.We met at the LOPC on a cold Sunday morning, there were ten of us paddling this morning (the number of paddlers has increased each from the three that started at Welford for the first leg). We travelled to South Wigston in three cars with the boats on a trailer and launched where we left off last time. We had intended to paddle the first part on the River Sence, but looking at the water level it was decided to be too low and launched onto the canal instead.For the first couple of miles we were breaking through a lair of ice but although cold it was a really nice calm dry morning.The canal for this first section seemed quite rural although travelling close to housing estates and Fosse Park shopping centre was very peaceful.At Glen Parva lock we stopped for a coffee break, it had been getting brighter and the temperature had warmed up so it was time to discard a fleece or two. The river came close again at this point and as the Soar had now merged with the Sence there was plenty of water in the river but it was agreed we should stay on the canal.As we passed under Soar Valley Way the banks were strewn with rubbish and graffiti. We passed an old gasholder at the gas works on Aylestone Road, passed the football stadium and on into Leicester. We picked a beautiful place to stop for lunch, at Frog Island lock, very picturesque!We journeyed on through the rest of Leicester with graffiti and rubbish getting worse at one point the plastic bags festooned the bankside trees like dirty and worn-out Christmas decorations, paddling passed the Space Centre in the distance and on to the LOPC to finish.